Hi Folks Your help again please. I'm due to have total hip replacement to my left hip on 18/3/2011. I'm advised this will be done under epidural as consultant/hospital believe it leads to quicker recovery/getting you up on your feet. I'm told that if I'm down for op in the morning they hope to have me up on my feet late afternoon.

They say I can listen to music through headphones, chat to the anesthetist or they can give me an injection to put me in a light sleep, but to me, to give an injection to make you sleep would seem to defeat the purpose as your probably still going to be woosy when you come round, thus delay the time in getting onto your feet.

I'm wondering what the views are of others in the community who've had hip done under epidural.

This may seem very naive but is it like when you have a tooth out at the dentist i.e. you can't feel any pain because you're numb but you are aware of the action of them pulling the tooth. I really don't know what to expect.

Any advice would be appreciated. This time I'll try and answer posts collectively to save the threat getting clogged up.

Hi VIV. I had an epidural with twilight sedation and I loved it! It did not take any time away from getting back up on my feet either. I was still in recovery to be monitored when I woke up and had quite a wait until I got into a private room to start the PT fun. Just a few hours after that I was walking out of the hospital with 1 crutch.

I was glad to be asleep because I dont sit still too well and I couldnt imagine laying there during surgery. I get bored easily and when waiting in recovery I asked a nurse for a magazine to read. She gave me a weird look and told me sorry but they dont keep magazines around the recovery area:th_heehee:

Funny- talking about chatting with the anesthesiologist, I was told that many times people become jabber jaws while in twilight sedation!:th_heehee: I wasnt told if I was one of those but I know I was reporting my pain on the 1-10 scale because that was the first thing I can remember when I woke up. I was about a 2.

I had a spinal to numb me from the waist down and Propofol to put me to "sleep." I told them to knock me out. I didn't want to "chat" with a stranger, or listen to music, or hear the tools used to perform the operation. I just wanted to wake up and have it finished.

I have had four hip surgeries. The first three were done under general anesthesia and the last was done with an epidural and sedation. I definitely prefer the epidural and would request it if I ever (heaven forbid) need surgery in the future.

Like Brad, I told them that I didn't want to talk to anyone or hear what was going on. I just wanted to be out. And I was. However, I had a much easier time in recovery after surgery and none of the side effects that I'd experienced with general anesthesia.

Unless you are just really set on being awake for your surgery for some reason, I recommend that you take the sedative. The surgery takes a while and it's much better just to wake up in recovery with no memory of any of it. You won't have any of the problems normally associated with a general....it's great!

It's worth noting that you won't be having an epidural, but a spinal block, which is somewhat different but still has the same effect.

The difference is explained in the library.

You will always have some sedative before the blood wagon fetches you from the ward, and go into theatre smiling, it's when you are actually through the door that you have some choice.

You can stay as you are and chat drowsily to everyone, or ask for some more and go off into a wonderfully comfortable sleep. It's something to discuss with your anaesthetist. In my case, because I have been a cardiac patient, he didn't wan't to take a chance of me getting panicked (no chance!!), so he decided that I should sleep. I actually wanted to stay awake and watch, but you can't see anything anyway, because they put screens up between you and the action. All they do is give you a little more of the sedative until your eyes close, it's not a different concoction of knock out chemicals. So staying awake or going to sleep makes very little(if any) difference to recovery, it's just a personal choice.

If you go to sleep, you wake up very quickly in recovery with a clear head and a wonderful feeling of euphoria. NO WOOZINESS!!!! I was back in the ward reading my book an hour or so after waking up. These magic potions are great these days, I still remember the old days when you woke up feeling terrible, vomiting for several hours, with the after effects lasting a couple of days!! NO MORE:th_yay:

I had a general and must have really lucky. No sickness or being woozy I had the op at 8.30am and was back on the ward having a cup of tea and reading the paper at 11.30am. I was up to use the toilet later that afternoon.!! As others have mentioned I really didnt want to hear or know what they were doing to me. Cathy

Sedatives used during a surgery under spinal are short acting and you wake up really quickly with no wooziness or feeling sleepy. I woke in recovery (as people normally do) and had a great chat with the staff there. Then, when I got back to the ward I was bright enough to scoff down three slices of toast and a glass of milk!

Trust me (and the others), you're far better off with a spinal and sedation. :thmb:

I know I will not cope with a spinal and would happily accept wooziness any time. I hope that when its my time to get done, the anaesthetist has one of them tranquiliser guns they use on elephants on me.

I had a spinal block and was not over the moon with the thought of being awake.

I had soft music and the anesthetist was talking to me all the time the op was in progress and it was brilliant with no problems or nasty thoughts afterwards so please do not worry if he says have the local.

You know (for people reading this) even if you do end up awake for the surgery and find you don't like it, you can still ask to be knocked out. It's only a small syringe of medication which is always on hand and is no trouble for the anaesthetist to get and give you. So even if you do think you'd like to be awake and then change your mind, it's never too late, even for the last 10 mins!

Thanks for posting. I think my main concern with the spinal is that approximately 10 years ago I had cortizone (at least I think it was) injected into the spine to see if it would relieve the pain in my back and confirm if it was the discs that were causing the problems. (it was supposed to last for approx 3/4 months).

I honestly didn't know what to expect and couldn't understand why the nurse said I could grip her hands if I wanted to, I soon found out, even although I believe I have a reasonably high pain thresehold the pain was so bad at one point I thought I was going to throw up.

Once back on the day ward it took a good hour for sickly feeling to subside.

Hi Viv, sorry about that bad spinal experience. I had 2 c-sections with epidurals, no sedative, and I must say I'd do that again. They numbed the area first, and I only felt pressure. I also had 4 other hip surgeries with a general. Honestly, recovery was the same for me, no difference. But if I get a choice I'd prefer epidural with a 'tranquilizerl'. I don't want to know or hear what they are doing with my precious demolished hip.

Injections into the spine like that are quite a bit different to having a spinal. That's mostly because when they inject the stuff it's quite a quantity - sometimes about 20mls. That's what made you feel sick to your stomach! You don't get that with a spinal.